


Long Rides and High Water

by IllyasJames



Series: Mix it Up Challenge [10]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Academia, Cowboys & Cowgirls, M/M, Mermaids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2019-02-03 11:17:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12747255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IllyasJames/pseuds/IllyasJames
Summary: Mermaid/Cowboy/School-Academia as requested byiwritebetterthanispeakon Tumblr.They are known as some of the fiercest Cowboys around, they aren't outlaws, they aren't Lawkeepers, they just bust your ass if you cross them wrongly.Yuuri can't believe the reputation they got, just because they undid some crime syndicate while herding some old dodgers bloody cows over the prairie, as it seems to get them in more issues than is good.Phichit loves it though. When they entered that last saloon they had been given one of the best tables, sure there had been a fight but it had nothing to do with them, and the dying man begging them to get his possessions to his sister is a worthy cause right.Except when they enter the building and find said possession they realize it might be trickier than they thought.





	Long Rides and High Water

**Author's Note:**

> Day 271 of my 365FF Challenge.
> 
> This is the tenth mix it up challenge. See post [ here. ](http://the-world-of-illyas-james.tumblr.com/post/167242058139/au-mix-it-up-challenge)  
> Some of these prompts are things I would never write otherwise, so basically they are your only chance of getting me to make a story with them. :}
> 
> And I managed to catch a massive FLU. It's so bad it deserves to be in capitals. As If I wasn't behind enough, I now spend days not being able to string more than four words together, But I am stubborn and I will continue with the challenge I set for myself. It just means I'll have to make January an honorary part of 2017.  
> Really for somebody who is supposed to avoid stress I seem to really like it. :}
> 
> As always I sent you off to enjoy the work by reminding that [ my tumblr ](http://the-world-of-illyas-james.tumblr.com/) is always available if you feel the need to sent me an ask or start a conversation over messages.  
> Seriously. I love receiving them. And I do my best to always answer. :}
> 
> Small service announcement;  
> A more pressing issue, however, is Update Demands. I've gotten a couple of comments about this and, please, I am begging you, don't do the thing. I know you're excited; hell, I'm excited about seeing the next chapter/sequel too, I love the enthusiasm you guys have! However, I am also a person who suffers from anxiety and that makes it hard to write, especially when I feel like I'm being pressured. I will get blocked and there will be no updates if this happens. Not because I'm being mean, but I genuinely just don't handle it well.  
> So please respect me, and try your best to not come of as rude in your enthusiasm.  
> Thank you. :}

Yuuri looks at the mess left of the saloon and sighs. He would really have loved it if today had not been one of those days. Just a simple day in which they could have enjoyed some beer and entertainment, before heading of and hoping one of the local ranches were looking for day workers. Instead it ended like most days tend to end lately, with him outside a messed up establishment explaining to the local sheriff that he and his friends did not start the fight, they had originally not been a part of the fight, they had had no interest to be part of the fight, but yes, they had ended the fight. 

It also did not help that somebody had died in the fight, or more precisely right after the fight ended but before the doctor arrived, making the sheriff extra crabby. Crabby enough for the man to give the four of them some nasty side glances, which they were used to as they weren't as white as most of the people around. Yuuri just hopes they won't spend the night in jail, that is one thing he would not want to have to explain to his parents in his next letter home, those places were nasty. He had half a mind telling the man about the request the dying man had given to Yuuri but when he was asked if he was related to the natives he decided against it, this was not a completely honest man even if he was the sheriff, telling the man that he was native to Japan. 

He goes over to Phichit, Leo and Guang after he is told that he is free to leave, and that was only after the saloon owner had come back from the doctor's with his arm in a splint telling the sheriff that if it hadn't been for the four of them more people would have been killed, he is ready to saddle up and leave this town. No interest in spending any more of their hard earned money here. 

"Yuuri, that sheriff looks like he's more than willing to track us down in the night and shoot us for 'poaching'." Leo looks up from the town paper he had been going over to see if any one here had posted a want ad, Yuuri just nods grimly and gets on his horse. "I see. So are we going to ride till dawn and hope to find lodging in the next town over, or risk that you can find a place he can't locate us." 

"Neither. That man that died, he asked me something just before he passed. Well I'm planning to keep my word to him." Phichit and Leo look at him with interest, while also getting on their horses. Guang just smiles, he had been sitting next to the man trying to keep pressure on the wound, so he knew what Yuuri was talking about. 

After giving a quick goodbye to the saloon owner he lead them out to the road the man had told him they should go. After a short while they come by a road that leads up into the hills and he steers into it. When they come by some hefty wrought iron gates he knows they are at the right place. He gets off his horse and uses one of the keys the man slipped in his hand to get inside. The house that stands at the end of the road is massive and would look better in it's place in one of the larger city's in the east. Phichit gives the place a good look over.

"Is that an honest to god Widow's walk up on the roof? I thought you'd only ever saw those at houses looking out over the sea? Why would anyone want one in bloody rural Kentucky?" Phichit's hand slips in his bag and Yuuri just knows he'll be making a quick sketch of the place. "So Yuuri, what are we going to do here?" 

"The man said he had some prized possessions in the house that we together with the deed of the land and house needed to bring to his sister in New York." he can hear the intake of breath from his friends "Don't worry about money, there would be some in the house we are allowed to use for transport. Plus he said he had a drawn carriage in the garage, so there's that." 

"What's your plan? Because travelling all the way to New York with a drawn carriage is a really long trip in hoping not to get taken over by bandits." Leo sounds a bit doubtful. Yuuri just smiles. 

"That's true, hence we'll be traveling to Roanoke Virginia. There we'll board either the train straight to New York or the one to Norfolk where we can board a Steamer going up north. We'll just see what will work best in the end." His three friends give a solemn nod. "For now we can go ahead. The saloon owner is also the towns lawyer and he said he can keep the vultures away from the place for at least a day. So as long we are gone by noon tomorrow we are good." 

After opening the large door into an impressive hall, all four of them get the distinct feeling this place has never seen people like them before. The whole place smells like money. Their heels live a clear sound when they hit the marble the floors are made of. Leaving them all a bit breathless. Yuuri takes a quick look around. 

"Okay, what i gathered from the saloon owner was that the man used to be a scholar, maybe even a professor at some high up school, but after a short falling out with his sister he packed his house and moved here." he looks around, realizing that perhaps the 'packed his house' bit had been more literal than he first thought it was. 

"Basically as far as the man knew this professor was still working on things out here. Yet he never told anyone except that once he was ready to reveal it to the world it would redefine our view of everything. So Leo, Guang, you two will go into the man's ground floor office. There should be a key to the safe in one of the desk drawers, the papers to this place and the lands are in that safe. Phichit, you'll go to the man's private rooms. Gather anything of importance his sister might want to have. I'm going to study and see if I can locate the research papers. His sister apparently still runs an apartment at that school so I bet she'd be interested in it." 

All three of them nod and they all split up to do as Yuuri asked. He knows he could have told them to get some sleep and do this in the morning but a voice in the back of his head was telling him to get out of this place long before noon the next day, a voice sounding eerily like his old dance instructor Minako, and he was not going to go against that. So despite being tired of the day, and really wanting to sleep, he moves to the part of the house he expects the man's workplace to be. 

Does he feel odd going through a persons house knowing they just died. Sure. But he knew that he was doing something good by fulfilling the man's dying wish and he used that knowledge to sooth his mind. He pushed the doors open to what looked like a large Glass conservatory built to the back of the house. Which made no sense to Yuuri as it would be the place with the least sun at any time of the day. The whole place is stacked with what looks like things used by scientists, Yuuri had dabbled in the art when he was younger but had to quit when he and Minako had moved to America in hopes for him to become a famous dancer which had ended with her running a bar in New York and he going about rustling cattle, now he was glad to have that knowledge as he was sure to figure out what they needed to take along and what could be left behind.

It takes him less than three minutes to decide that the man was not his kind of scientist, seeing as he had several animals on water and others prepped up around the place, he was more of the practical arts. When he finds something that looks like somebody tried to stitch a chimera together he is certain he will be more than happy to be dropping of this man's research at his sister's. He eyes the large tank filled with water in the middle of the place, he can't see anything in it but rocks and large water plants, concluding it must be empty he returns to going over the paperwork on the tables. 

Seeing as this kind of work is not his forte he comes to the understanding that he'll just has to take everything with him, else he could miss out on something that ended up being of great importance, so he starts to stack it. That is when the feeling of being watched creep over him. He turns around looking at all the dead animals on display, they are creepy especially in the dying light, realizing it's the incoming darkness that must be taking a toll on his nerves he looks for a light switch and turns it. 

When the lights buzz on he thanks the world for this new invention and the crazy scientist that is apparently very up to date. He turns from the switch to go back to the desk only to have his eyes get caught by something that makes him scream his lungs out. His sudden step backwards makes him lose his footing and he lands on his ass on the floor staring at the sight before him. 

He can hear the others barge into the conservatory and running up to him, he can hear the moment they see what startled him enough to scream. 

"Oh Holy Cowdung. Is that what I think it is?" Phichit feels his mouth dropping. There, in a large fish tank, is a bloody seaperson. 

The body an impressive toned torso that resembled that of a well kept man, the arms not unlike men if not for the webbing between the fingers, his face looked almost too human but too handsome -if that was even a thing- with clear blue eyes like a summer day at the beach. His hair, and Yuuri was fairly certain it was hair, was long and Silver colored the exact same silver color the beings tail had. Once Yuuri got a chance too look at it closer he would realize the tail looked more like two elongated legs fused together than that of a fish, but right now all he could see was that the being indeed had a tail were humans normally wouldn't.

When the being taps the glass and points to some radio-like contraption attached to the tank it dawns on the three of them that apparently they wish to communicate. Phichit being the more tech savvy of the four slowly moves over and after being shown by the being what to do manages to get it too work. The being takes what looks like a mouth cap and places it over his mouth, then points to a switch and shows Phichit which way to open it. Guang Hong initially tries to stop him saying that in the legends he was told one should never hear the voice of these beings, but he is to shocked to really step forward and say something.

"Where is Dr Moreau?" The being looks at them. Realizing what he asked Yuuri quickly scrambles back on his feet. He then asks if the being can hear them or if something needs to be done to do so. "No the top of the tank has air vents. As long as you speak loud enough your voices will filter in through the water." Yuuri nods.

"Alright. The Doctor is dead. There was a fight in the saloon in town and one of the bullets used ricochet off and hit him in the chest. We tried to save him but it was too severe. When he must have realized that there was no way for him to make it he gave me the keys and asked me with his dying wish to take the papers of this house and his most prized possessions to his sister in New York." 

Yuuri looks at the being taken his words in, it doesn't look like he is too sad about the man being dead but there was something when Yuuri had said he was going to be taken to New York. When the being asks him how they are planning to take him to New York Yuuri has to admit all he had been told was that the man had a drawn carriage at which the face of the being falls. Turns out there is a small tank build into the carriage, and it had been used to take Victor - the beings name- from New York to this place in rural Kentucky to begin with. It was so small all Victor could do in it was lie and try to be comfortable. 

Yuuri feels for the being -Victor- but he blames it on the fact that he is a sea creature and those are known to allure people to them. Luckily it seems Victor is not opposed being taken back to New York, although he is adamant in telling them it was never really his home. Knowing though what they will have to take with them to New York the four of them start preparing the carriage as fast as they can, only allowing for a few hours of sleep for one of them, as they will be sleeping in terms in the carriage, that way they can leave before the sun has even fully risen and take turns driving the carriage only needing to break to give their horses some rest. 

They change horses at a post stop in one of the first cities they come across in West Virginia, and again in a place not too far from the Virginian border. With this last batch of horses they are certain they will make it to Roanoke in a matter of days. Yuuri can only wonder how Minako is going to react when he shows up at her bar with a merman in tow. he has to chuckle, she is going to have a field day.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> I'll point out that you too can give me an idea. Just look up the list, pick your favorites and put it in your comment.  
> List can be found [ here. ](http://the-world-of-illyas-james.tumblr.com/post/167242058139/au-mix-it-up-challenge)
> 
> Please consider it, as this is your only option to ever see me write some of these options. :}


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